India beat Sri Lanka by 188 runs

By John Cheeran
In the end, it all seemed so easy. Skipper Rahul Dravid led Team India to a convincing victory – by 188 runs -- over Sri Lanka on the final day of the New Delhi Test.
Dravid and coach Greg Chappell have enough to reasons to be happy. Everyone in Team India –except opener Gautam Gambhir --played an important role in scripting this win.
For a change, Feroze Shah Kotla was not the traditional dust bowl. It offered enough opportunities for batsmen as well as bowlers. And in the end, it came as no surprise that the side that maximized their chances won the Test.
I’m quite happy with the way Indian bowlers went about their task in the fourth innings. It was not at all an easy task to hustle out Sri Lanka though the target of 436 was daunting. But then the pitch had eased out and though the bounce was low, it did not make the track unplayable.
And it mattered a lot that Anil Kumble was not left alone in getting those ten wickets as he had done in 1999 against Pakistan at Kotla.
The initial strike came from Irfan Pathan.
Skipper Dravid’s master move to bring back a wayward Ajit Agarkar to break the flourishing partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Attapattu succeeded.
Then Kumble took over the real job. Kumble’s low catch to dismiss Attapattu off his own bowling turned the Test decisively in India’s favour.
There was no room for Kumble to get his perfect ten since rest of the bowlers were on target and it spared India the last hour tease.
This Test will be remembered, of course, for India’s emphatic win. But Sachin Tendulkar’s 35th Test century makes it all the more memorable.
So will be some of the tactical moves Dravid and Chappell made over the course of these absorbing five days.
Skipper Dravid, who was battling a viral infection on the eve of the match, lived up to the challenge of opening the innings in the absence of Virender Sehwag.
Dravid, of course, had opened in the past in Tests, but as a skipper there was no pressure on him to venture forth.
Then again Dravid brings a refreshing approach to captaincy; he is not afraid to take on responsibilities to further the Indian agenda. The ploy to send Irfan Pathan as opener in the second innings proved to be a masterstroke and it shows skipper Dravid is open to new ideas.
This was a team effort; VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh grabbed their chances to be among runs with relish and Agarkar held on to the lifeline thrown by Dravid.
Opportunities are not unlimited.
And that thought should help those who are struggling in the middle.